by Hatchett
He turned to Joshua who was sitting on one of the chairs watching with interest.
“Is this a Laakuu device?” he asked.
“No,” Joshua replied. “We have something similar but not this. I would be interested to take a closer look at it.”
“Later.” Harry turned back to face Matt and Karen. “We’ve had this over a decade. Watch.”
Harry used his arms, hands and fingers to rotate and expand the views so that the sun in the centre of the room got smaller and the Earth became much larger. He motioned the others over, and they came to stand next to him.
“This is in real time,” he explained, as he zoomed in even further.
They could see the outline of the UK sheathed in darkness and the dividing line between darkness and daylight creeping slowly across Ireland, before heading out across the Atlantic towards the Eastern seaboard of the Unites States.
“It can’t be real time,” Karen objected, “otherwise you would see lights around London and other main towns and cities.”
“It is based on how things were a thousand or so years ago, so it doesn’t allow for subsequent changes made to the planet, but it is based on the current time and relative position of the Earth. I’ve spent hours exploring the universe with this thing and still haven’t scratched the surface. For example, Orion’s Belt; did you know that although the three stars which make up the belt, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, look like they’re in a line and are the same size. Well, they’re not. They’re all different sizes and all at different distances from the Earth by over a thousand light years. It just looks like they’re the same size and distance away because of the way they’re aligned.
Betelgeuse is another favourite of mine. It’s at one end of the belt and is absolutely massive. It’s bigger than the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and possibly Jupiter all put together. And when you think Jupiter is about two and a half times the size of all the other planets in the Solar System, that should give you some idea of the scale. Betelgeuse is expected to explode in the next million years or so. Unfortunately, I won’t be around to see it,” he laughed deprecatingly. “The thing is, with this device you can wander around the universe in real time, looking at planets as close up as you want. You know that the dwarf planet Pluto is no longer considered the ninth planet in our solar system because of its size, amongst other things, well, there are bigger planets within the Kuiper belt and some astronomers think there could be some really massive ones further out. Well, I can tell you that there are. Lots of them.”
Harry turned off the device and the room returned to its previous state.
“Thanks for the lecture,” Harriet chided softly, placing her hand on Harry’s shoulder before turning to Matt and Karen.
“What Harry is trying to tell you in a long-winded way is that this is alien technology and it’s been around years. It’s not our technology, it’s not Laakuu technology so it must belong to someone else.”
There was a few seconds of silence before Matt spoke up.
“Why haven’t you shared this? Astronomers for a start would be beside themselves to have something like this to help them study the universe.”
“This and many other items in our possession were ‘borrowed’ from secret Government locations,” Harry explained, “by like-minded friends. We can hardly broadcast what we have. Anyway, why haven’t the powers-that-be shared what they have?”
Matt and Karen looked at each other, accepting the point.
“OK,” Karen began, “so there are aliens, different types of aliens, and there have been visits from time to time.”
“Now you’ve got it,” Harry confirmed. “Which is why we set up the Underground in the first place. You can’t trust any Government to do the right thing.”
“And what is the right thing?” Karen asked.
“Good question…”
Before Harry could continue, there were shouts coming from the direction of the kitchen and the TV suddenly lost its picture and showed nothing but static.
18
“Come quickly!” Hilda shouted as she rushed into the lounge.
The group quickly headed for the door. Harry took the lead and almost bumped into Hilda as he left the room.
“What’s going on, Hilda?” Harry asked quickly.
“There are lights all over the sky,” Hilda panted. “You’ve got to come and look, it’s wonderful.”
They all followed Hilda into the kitchen then out onto the patio outside and looked up. Hilda was right; the sky was lit up by what looked like a stream of shooting stars or very distant fireworks.
Although others were smiling and looking in awe at the sight, Harry felt a sense of foreboding. His suspicions were confirmed when Jess said.
“EVERYONE GET INSIDE NOW!” She had turned up the volume on her voice box to maximum to make sure everyone heard.
Everyone tore their eyes away from the spectacle to look at Jess, but her wheelchair was already heading towards the house with the two Harrys’ following close behind her. They didn’t wait to ask what Jess’s problem was; they all knew her well enough to listen and do what she said.
Jess didn’t stop when she reached the kitchen but continued on down the corridor, heading towards the lift. Harry darted into the barn and shouted for everyone to follow him.
“What’s going on?” Harriet wheezed as she caught up to Jess and flicked the key fob to slide open the concealed entrance to the lift.
“DANGER,” Jess replied.
Thankfully, she had turned down the volume on the voice box.
Jess drove her wheelchair straight into the lift and was swiftly followed by Harriet, her parents, the Barrington’s, Hilda, Matt, Karen and Joshua.
“What are we waiting for,” Joshua shouted, looking panicked.
“The others,” Harriet replied calmly.
As she spoke, Harry, Jason, Andy, Kate, Hannah and four others came skidding around the corner and ran quickly towards them as loud bangs started to go off in the background.
“Hurry!” Harriet screamed.
The latecomers piled into the lift and Harriet quickly pressed the ‘B’. The doors slid closed and the lift started its descent.
“What the hell was all that?” Damian asked, “are we being attacked?”
“I don’t know,” Harry replied, “I was just doing what Jess told us.”
They all turned to look at Jess.
“I DON’T KNOW,” came out of the voice box. “I JUST SENSED DANGER.”
The lift doors opened, and the occupants edged out into the quiet basement, the lights flicking on thanks to the motion sensors.
While Harriet gathered some of the women to help her make some drinks, Harry led Jason and Andy towards the communications room, Jess following in their wake. The others found themselves a seat in the lounge area and started speculating on what was going on.
“Where’s George?” Hilda suddenly shouted from the kitchen. She came running into the lounge area, scanning the faces for her husband. Harriet was just a couple of paces behind and caught the older woman before she collapsed. George was not there.
“Errol isn’t here either,” Kate noted.
“Nor Steve or Adil,” Hannah added.
“We need to go back up,” Hilda shouted.
“No, not until Jess tells us we can,” Harriet ordered.
She shepherded Hilda to sit with Kate and Hannah, knowing that they would keep an eye on her. She then retraced her steps back to the kitchen.
19
In the communications room, Harry, Jason and Andy were flicking various switches on the consoles and looking at the screens on the far wall.
“Well, at least the CCTV is working,” Harry muttered, “seeing as nothing else is.”
The majority of the monitors showed the outside of the house and the grounds, which showed misshapen lumps of debris dotted around. There were also some cameras inside the barn, but Harry wasn’t interested in those for the time being.
&n
bsp; Harry switched all available monitors to show external CCTV footage then used a joystick to rotate the camera he had selected. He focused on one of the white vans sitting outside the house on the driveway and it was immediately obvious that the vehicle was damaged. Harry zoomed in and they could see what appeared to be a sheet of metal embedded in the cab’s roof and windscreen, the glass smashed, and the roof ripped open.
Moving the camera around and zooming in where necessary, Harry found other pieces of metal and some external damage on one of the outhouses. He clicked to another camera and quickly surveyed the helicopter on the lawn. Mercifully, it seemed to all be in one piece.
He then switched to the barn and scanned all around. Something had obviously come through the roof as there was a gaping hole and the shelving and goods below it had been smashed and scattered all around. He continued the sweep of the barn and was drawn to movement along one of the sides. He zoomed in and was relieved to see George cowering under a solid workbench. He flicked a switch for the intercom.
“George, can you hear me?”
Harry saw George stick a thumb up.
“Are you ok?”
Another thumb went up.
“Stay where you are. We’ll come and get you as soon as we can.”
The thumb went up for the third time.
Harry turned to Andy and asked him to go tell the others that George was alive and well. Moments later they could hear Hilda crying with relief.
“What is going on?” Jason asked.
“I have no idea,” Harry replied, “but whatever it is, it isn’t good. Jess, any ideas?”
“I’M NOT SURE.”
“How did you know we were in danger?”
“I DON’T KNOW, JUST A FEELING.”
“Well, I’m glad you had that feeling. I didn’t feel particularly comfortable myself, truth be told. Couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was like having your hair stand on end.”
“I HAVEN’T GOT MUCH HAIR. HA HA HA.”
That relieved the tension in the room as Harry, Jason and Andy laughed at Jess’s comment.
Jess moved her wheelchair forward, so she could get a closer look at the monitors.
“CAN YOU ANGLE THE CAMERAS UPWARDS?”
Harry moved the joystick and pointed one of the cameras skywards. They could all see the odd flash of light, but nothing like the display they had briefly witnessed earlier when the whole sky seemed to be alight.
Harry tried the TV and satellite channels. He then checked his phone, but none appeared to be working. He sat back, scratching his chin as he thought things through.
“What do you reckon, Harry,” Jason asked?
“I think we’re being attacked. You better get upstairs quickly and bring George and anyone else who’s still up there down here.”
Both Jason and Andy got up and left the communications room.
Harry turned to Jess.
“What do you think, Jess?”
Rather than using the voice box, Jess looked at Harry and answered.
“I THINK YOU’RE RIGHT. I CAN FEEL…I DON’T KNOW…BUT IT FEELS LIKE I’M BEING SUFFOCATED.”
“I think all that stuff falling to Earth used to be our communications satellites,” Harry observed. “First step in any war is to block enemy communications and their ability to fight back.”
Harry looked at his old analogue phone sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust. He got up and walked over to retrieve the device before bringing it back to the desk, brushing away the dust.
“With satellites down, the only way to communicate will probably be the old ways, assuming of course, that the wires are in place and someone is on the other end.”
He plugged it into an old socket on the wall under the desk and frowned when there was no dial tone.
“I guess that’s the end of that idea,” he commented as he replaced the receiver.
Harry moved across to the radio transmitter and receiver and turned it on. He made sure it was set to the agreed Underground frequency and listened carefully for any incoming transmissions. There was nothing, but it was still early days in the alien attack and members were probably sorting themselves out first.
He arranged for Kate and Hannah to scan the frequencies to see what they could pick up but cautioned that they should in no way attempt to contact anyone for the time being.
Harry was a little concerned that the aliens might be able to triangulate their position, so the less they used it the better.
“There is another way.”
Harry and Jess turned to find Joshua standing in the doorway, watching them with interest. Matt and Karen were behind him, watching proceedings over his shoulder.
“Such as?” Harry asked.
“Well, you do have our communicators, so why not use those,” Joshua suggested.
“I don’t think I want to speak to Mason at this stage,” Harry said.
“Fine, but doesn’t your PM have one?”
Harry thought about it for a few seconds before realising Joshua was right. Harry didn’t know if the PM had one, but MI5 certainly did. Then he frowned again as another thought came to him.
“Can these communicators be traced?”
“Yes and no,” Joshua replied. “You can hide the trace if you know what you’re doing.”
“And do you know what you’re doing?” Harry asked, trying to be patient.
Joshua smiled smugly.
“Of course, I do. I’m not a moron.”
“GOOD TO KNOW,” came from the voice box as Jess stared unblinkingly at Joshua.
Joshua cringed under her gaze and quickly offered to get the communicators and show them again how they worked.
20
As the debris fell to Earth the hundreds of thousands of drones followed, spreading out and heading towards key locations around the planet. Once they arrived, they hovered at around five kilometres and sat as sentinels watching what was going on below them.
The Mothership and two Inter-Galactic Cruisers stopped two hundred kilometres above the Earth’s surface. Due to their size, anyone with a decent telescope would be able to see them fairly clearly if they knew where to look and weren’t engaged in trying to save themselves.
Kinaejah watched some of the coverage provided by the drones, flicking his screen from one major capital city to another. Regardless of whether it was day or night, the drones provided crystal clear pictures as if it was midday.
Kinaejah noticed that the devastation caused by the raining debris was not half as bad as he first thought; buildings were still standing, traffic was still moving, albeit slowly, and more and more people were emerging from the buildings like worker ants leaving their home to forage.
He waited and watched, seeing how the humans reacted. He could tell that they weren’t sure what had happened and were confused, many still looking towards the sky in case there was another shower of debris. He laughed to himself. Yes, there was another shower coming, and it would be far more devastating than the first.
He eventually got bored with watching. Whilst emergency services on the ground were trying to put out fires and help those who were injured, the vast majority of people went back indoors, obviously thinking that was the end of the excitement.
He looked across the room to the other Elders.
“Drone status?” he demanded.
“All accounted for, no losses,” came the response from Thaejah.
“Good. They either haven’t noticed them, or they can’t do anything about them. Their reliance on satellites is their weakness. They can no longer communicate, none of their computers will work so they cannot fight back. Time for Phase 2.”
“Are you sure?” Thaejah asked.
Kinaejah rounded on him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I just thought you were going to communicate with their leadership and demand their surrender. I thought Phase 2 was only if they wouldn’t negotiate.”
Kinaejah laughed.
�
��You think too much, Thaejah. Surrender? Where is the fun in that? No Thaejah, we’re going to have some fun and finally show this puny species who’s the boss. Anyway, there are too many of them and we don’t need that many slaves.”
Thaejah was taken aback. He had expected Kinaejah to communicate with the humans, get them to surrender and then find a peaceful way in which both species could simultaneously enjoy the benefits of the planet, a bit like the old ‘Alien Nation’ film he had seen when he was on the ground, or ‘Men in Black’. However, Kinaejah clearly had other ideas and it obviously wasn’t to live in harmony.
Thaejah wondered if he had made a huge mistake but realised that he hadn’t had much choice. If he had not supported Kinaejah when they were on the ground, then he would have been summarily executed just like their two colleagues, Archie and David, who had been the Laakuu leaders for Scotland and Wales. Perhaps he should have done nothing to help Kinaejah when he was brought back to the Mothership and just let the previous Elders float him, but he had been seduced by the thought of power and cowered at the thought of Kinaejah somehow surviving in any case and coming after him for revenge. The risk of crossing Kinaejah wasn’t worth taking unless you were absolutely certain of the result and that there would be no comebacks, but as Thaejah had found out when he returned to the Mothership, Kinaejah had friends and spies everywhere. You simply didn’t know who you could trust.
“Is there a problem Thaejah?” Kinaejah asked, staring at him, waiting for his reaction.
Thaejah jumped.
“Sorry Mas…Kinaejah, what was that?”
He noticed that a couple of guards at the side of the room were suddenly more alert.
“I asked if there was a problem,” Kinaejah repeated.
“No…no problem,” Thaejah hurriedly replied and turned back to his screens to avoid Kinaejah’s stare.
“Good. Then let’s start Phase 2.”
“Do you want the ships cloaked?”
“No. We want to give the humans a show of strength which they’ll never forget. But, make sure the shields are up in case the humans have hand-held weapons.”